DOK R04

Hello,

I've been a Ham since 1978. I'm active on the HF bands only, from 160m up to 10m.

 

Other callsigns activated:

LX/DL1EAL 19-May until 21-May 1989 144 MHz DXpedition to Luxemburg
W9/DL1EAL 06-Jun-1989 until 30-Mar-1990, Burns Harbor, IN, USA
F/DL1EAL 11-Jul-1993, 144 MHz DXpedition to Grand Ballon Mountain, Loc. JN37NW, 1360 m asl (nr. Mulhouse, France)
CT/DL1EAL 29-May until 05-Jun-2005 Tavira, Portugal
PA/DL1EAL, Texel Island (EU-038), The Netherlands:
28-May until 06-Jun-2007, 13-Apr until 22-Apr-2008, 12-Sep until 23-Sep-2010, 24-Sep until 29-Sep-2011, 04-May until 16-May-2013

Photo: Sunset behind the Windmill near the village Oost at the east coast of Texel

 

Another PA/DL1EAL DXpedition to Texel Island (IOTA EU-038) is planned from September 26 until October 08, 2015. I will be QRV on 10/15/20 and 40m with 100W transmit power and Fritzel GPA-404 vertical antenna. Operation will be 'holyday style', as ham radio is not the primary purpose of the trip, while family activities wil have priority.

 

QSL Policy for PA/DL1EAL:
QSLs go via my home call, either via bureau (which may last a year or two until you receive mine) or direct to my home address as stored here in QRZ.com. Return QSLs (photo cards as displayed above) will be sent direct, if you provide a SAE (self-addressed envelope) and one IRC or sufficient funds to finance postage. For Europe and DX that is 1 US-Dollar or 1 Euro. If not sufficient postage or no SAE is provided, the return card goes via bureau.

You may also simply request a QSL card, you don't need to send me yours (I'm not collecting cards for PA/DL1EAL). Just drop me an email with the QSO data, and I'll send a card for you via bureau.

There are also accounts for PA/DL1EAL set up on eQSL.cc and on the LoTW, so if you want to confirm electronically, feel free to do so.

 

Current home station equipment:

Since 01-Apr-2012:
TRX: Kenwood TS-590S / 100 W
Ant: End fed Long Wire 18 meters with MFJ-993BRT remote controlled ATU at the feed point outdoor

Since December 2014 a new toy has become part of the radio equipment: an Elecraft KX3 QRP (10 W) transceiver.

Preferred modes of operation: CW and all digital modes (PSK, RTTY etc.), and occasionally SSTV.

Special interest: Working on the DXCC Challenge and 5 Band-WAZ. Current standing of confirmed active DXCC entities (mixed mode), as of 24-Feb-2015:

Band	Points		Band	Points
80m	108		160m	51
40m	199		30m	185
20m	230		17m	109
15m	220		12m	86
10m	158		OSCAR	24

DXCC mixed modes total: 288 points (still far away from the Honor Roll).
DXCC CW mode total: 281 points / Phone: 176 / Digital: 153

Latest new DXCC Point #288 was EP6T, activated by the Belgian Rockall DX Group 17 until 26 January 2015. EP (Iran) seemed to be one of the most wanted DXCC entities in the world, so the pile-ups were huge. Due to my limited antenna, limited time, and the strong QRM, I was able to work them on the 30m band only.

Sad to say I spent a lot of time and sent my call maybe a thousand times, but could not get through to the K1N Navassa DXpedition, which was on the air a week later in early February 2015. Pile-ups were amazing, sometimes up to 30 kHz wide (in CW!), and deliberate QRM was frustrating.

As of August 23, 2011, I am a proud owner of 5-Band-DXCC certificate #7080! Took me more than 30 years of more or less active radio operations to achieve this award, and I emphasize, I never used more than 100 Watts output power! Look at it:

This certificate was a really expensive piece of paper. Not only a good 250 dollars in return postage for direct QSLs, but also the 120 dollars in fees which the ARRL charged for certificate print, application processing, LoTW credits and shipping. Well, who cares? You do this only once in your lifetime, and after all, it's a nice-to-have for displaying on the wall of the radio shack!

The 80m band turned out to be a real challenge for me, due to the limited antenna. Real DX QSOs seem to be possible only if the DX station has an exceptionally good antenna for 80m. I even do not have confirmation for all European countries on 80m. Out of Europe, I still need the following:
JX (Jan Mayen), Z6 (Kosova), and of course SV/A (Mount Athos)

A word about the QRZ.com Logbook: as I have active accounts at eQSL and Logbook of the World, which I update regularly, I find this is sufficient in terms of electronic QSO recording. Therefore I will not make use of the QRZ.com Logbook. That means, I will not check nor will I confirm any records placed into the logbook. So save your time...

Other hobbies: Digital photography, computer hardware and software, and walking, or better: running the dog. On my QSL card, that's our boy Jack Russell Terrier "Hennes", passed away 15-May-2009. May he keep on digging in dogs' heaven! He will live on in my memory forever.

 

Visitors since Dec. 12, 2009:

 

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